Fabrications: Drapery and Dress in Works from the Iziko Collection

Location: South African National Gallery

From:
January 1, 2008
To:
December 31, 2008

In many works of art, especially in 17th century Europe’s Baroque era, drapery began to assume a life of its own. While this was true of painting, it became especially apparent in the sculpture of Bernini in Rome. Bernini’s fame was such that the King of France, Louis XIV, wanted to lure him to France to work for him there. Bernini responded to his summons in 1665, but the only well-known result of his visit was an amazing and finely-wrought marble bust of the King, fashioned so that his head and shoulders seem to float on a whirl of drapery, as if on a cloud. The 27-year-old king is represented as young, handsome and majestic. A full-scale replica of Bernini’s famous bust features in this exhibition, courtesy of the University of Stellenbosch’s Fine Arts Department, which houses a collection of plaster casts.